Eastland Generation seeks capital for renewable generation

Te Ahi o Maui - Eastland Generation's first geothermal power plant.

Community-trust owned Eastland Generation has hired brokers Forsyth Barr to advise on a capital raise to help fund expansion of its renewable energy portfolio.

The company, which has geothermal assets in the Bay of Plenty, intends to raise funds by offering a 50 per cent ownership stake, inviting potential investors to explore the opportunity.

Eastland Generation is 100 per cent owned by Eastland Group, a specialist infrastructure company headquartered in Tairāwhiti that also operates Eastland Port and Gisborne Airport.

Matt Todd, chief executive of Eastland Group, said bringing a partner on board would speed up the company’s advanced pipeline of growth.

“There is nowhere else in New Zealand where you can invest in a renewable energy business that has existing assets already generating strong cash flows, a fully formed operational and development capability, and a solid growth path,” he said.

Eastland Generation owns and operates three geothermal power plants on the Kawerau geothermal field in the Bay of Plenty.

This includes Te Ahi o Maui (26 megawatts), Geothermal Developments Ltd (9MW) and Topp1 (24MW).

This is in addition to a hydro station (5MW) near Wairoa and a soon-to-be operational utility-scale solar farm (5MW) based on land next to Gisborne Airport.

Eastland Generation said it also had a significant pipeline of renewable energy projects.

In the near-term, one of its key projects is the partnership with New York Stock Exchange-listed Ormat Technologies to build the 49-megawatt geothermal power station Topp2.

A key driver of the capital raise is to use the funds, in part, for the development of Topp2.

Eastland has signed an agreement with Ormat Technologies, a leading global provider of renewable energy solutions, to build and operate the power plant, with an option for Eastland to buy it.

Topp2 is the most advanced of Eastland’s projects and will add significant scale to the portfolio, Todd said.

“Additionally, there are numerous other projects at various stages of development building long-term regional energy capacity and resilience, which will be announced in the near future,” he said.

“Both our team and Trust Tairāwhiti want a partner that brings more than just capital, we want to form meaningful relationships and work alongside them to support our growth objectives and team over the long term.”

Trust Tairāwhiti - Eastland’s sole shareholder - will provide a short-term investment of $30 million to support the initial development of Topp2.

Trust chair John Clarke said bringing another shareholder into the generation business would provide additional capital to allow Eastland Generation to grow, without the trust being required to provide additional long-term equity investment.

“This is good for the company, but it also allows the trust to better diversify, balance its portfolio and focus on supporting the local community,” he said.

The short-term investment of $30m would not prevent the trust from making other community and economic investments in Tairāwhiti.

“Ultimately, it will provide a solid return on investment and capital release back to the trust so we can provide more for beneficiaries over the long-term.”

The capital raise process is expected to start soon.

Ormat owns, operates, designs, manufactures, and sells geothermal and recovered energy generation (REG) power plants primarily based on the Ormat Energy Converter – a power generation unit that converts low-, medium- and high-temperature heat into electricity.

The company has power-generating assets around the world, and a 150mw energy storage portfolio in the United States.

Jamie Gray is an Auckland-based journalist, covering the financial markets and the primary sector. He joined the Herald in 2011.